After tying the knot nearly a year-and-a-half ago, U.S. Army Sgt. Jeremy Martinez and his wife Jillian are anxious to finally experience what marriage is all about. After all, a one-week honeymoon just isn’t nearly enough time to explore all the ins and outs of married life.

It was a joyful reunion when Jeremy, 23, was able to embrace his wife after a 15-month absence upon his return from a tour of duty in Iraq. In fact, the whole family celebrated Jeremy’s safe return at a surprise homecoming party at Skeeter’s in Kingwood April 10.

“My daughter is ecstatic that Jeremy is home,” said Raul Valles, Jillian’s father and owner of Skeeter’s Mesquite Grill. “It’s been a hard year for us. I suffered a brain aneurysm in December, and on February 16 we had a truck run through our [Atascocita] home and destroy it. So in all the mess, all the confusion and misery, we have this one good, positive thing. We’re very happy to have Jeremy back.”

Almost immediately after the couple’s wedding in October 2007, Jeremy and his unit, the 82nd Airborne, were deployed from his home base in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, to Camp Victory in Baghdad.

“Midway through the deployment I was placed with a communications team that went to Kuwait,” Jeremy recounted. “The duties specific to my job dealt a lot with satellite communication, making sure that soldiers were able to communicate with their families, as well as their superiors to accomplish their mission, even when they were out in the middle of nowhere. It was intense, that’s for sure.”

Despite the hardships of traveling around the country of Kuwait quite a bit, Jeremy said his job allowed him the opportunity to communicate with his wife fairly regularly. He made sure to stay in touch via text messages, e-mails and phone calls at every opportunity.

“We were able to talk quite a bit, since I was in communication. I made it a point to talk to her as much as I could,” Jeremy said. “This was my second deployment, but on the first one I was single. I was 19 and very young, and I didn’t have anyone relying on me to come home. But this time around I made sure to let her know that I was safe whenever I could. If she had to worry every day, that could do some damage to someone’s heart after a while.”

The couple met through Jillian’s brother John Valles, a very good friend of Jeremy’s who is stationed alongside him in Ft. Bragg. When Jillian came to visit John, she and Jeremy fell in love and have been together since.

“I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of being an Army wife,” Jillian said. “When Jeremy was in Iraq, I was really worried about him. It got better when he went to Kuwait because he was in a no-combat zone. I’m so excited to finally have him home safely.”

Jeremy enlisted in the U.S. Army straight out of high school. Eight days after graduation, he said, he was on a bus, headed for boot camp. He’ll be home until April 18 before heading back to Ft. Bragg and beginning the process of separating from the military. Jeremy doesn’t expect to be re-deployed, but anything is possible, he said.

“The war is not something that goes away overnight, so anything could happen,” he said. “I should be back home in August, hopefully permanently.”

Jeremy said he plans on spending some “long overdue time” with Jillian before returning to Ft. Bragg for the last leg of his military journey.

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“Right now, I’m just happy to be home safely. A lot can happen in a few seconds of combat,” Jeremy said. “But Jillian and I are ready to start a family, see what marriage really has in store. And Jillian is especially ready to experience married life. Including things like….having the toilet seat up.”